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Traditional Chinese Medicine
Let's have a view on a comparison between Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine.
In the west we are accustomed to viewing events in a linear fashion, that is, A causes B. Classical chinese thought moves in an entirely different dimension, one in which various phenomena are interrelated as part of a pattern. According to the mythology surrounding the birth of the Chinese language, the legendary sage-ruler Fu Xi discerned the patterns in heaven and earth, and from them fashioned the characters of the Chinese language. This sense of phenomena as intertwined patterns has important ramifications. There is an overwhelming sense of context: events or objects by themselves have no meaning. Meaning is derived from participation in the patterns. From this grows the feeling that all things are closely interrelated to each other.
In Medicine these differences in philosophy appear in many ways. While the primary mode of thought in Western medicine is analytical, dissecting things until the causal links shine through, in Chinese medicine exactly the opposite occurs. Signs and symptoms are pieced together and synthesized, until a picture of the whole person appears. This piecing together is the very heart of the Chinese diagnostic process. Based on this perspective, disease in Chinese medicine can only meaningfully be presented in terms of a particular patient at a particular time. Treatment in Chinese medicine is centered on the person rather than the disease.
The Western thought considers Mind and Body as separate entities which sometimes interact with each other. Traditional Chinese thought, on the other hand, tends to view all phenomena as existing along a continuum with two poles. Thus, there are differences of shade but not of kind. In traditional Chinese medicine mental, emotional, and physical illness are closely related. The entire person is taken into account, both in diagnosis and treatment.
The lifestyle of the modern West emphasizes competition and confrontation. This culture-bound view of the universe was very strong during the formative years of modern Western medicine, and has influenced it greatly. Disease is primarily due to causes that can be killed, cut-out or contained. When this is impossible, treatment is usually unsuccessful. This is still the predominant paradigm of Western medicine.
In social and natural relationships the Chinese traditionally prized harmony above all. A positive, harmonious feeling of wellness is the Chinese ideal of health. Disease is viewed as disorder in the body, and treatment is directed toward properly ordering or 'harmonizing' the body. This perspective has given Chinese medicine a handle on many chronic, debilitating conditions. Moreover, when reading about the functions of the points in the text, there are many which are said to "harmonize", "regulate", adjust", "facilitate", "benefit", "calm" and so on, further illustrating the importance of harmony in Chinese medicine.
Modern science places a great deal of emphasis on a correct understanding of the body's structure, and how it changes during the course of disease. Chinese medicine places the emphasis almost totally in function.
Traditional Chinese thought made extensive use of long chains of correspondences so as to rationalize the cosmos. This type of thinking was also prominent in medieval and Renaissance Europe, but is no longer a part of mainstream scientific thought. The correspondences, which in medicine linked aspects of the microcosm of man with the macrocosm of the cosmos, where one manifestation of the Chinese feeling for patterns and interrelationships.
In modern sciences, precision of measurement and conceptualization is the ideal. Traditional Chinese thought, however, has an affinity for vagueness. This is due to an appreciation that in nature things are rarely cut and dried, but instead are rather blurred. This is also true of traditional medicine.
Now, acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine are the main parts of the whole healing system known as Traditional Chinese Medicine.
There are different approaches of acupuncture namely, the chinese, the corean, the Japanese and the vietnamese. All of them have however the same origin: the Chinese medical tradition which is based in big general classical books such as Nan Jing or the more acupuncture specialized such as Zhen Jiu Jia Yi Jing, Zhen Jiu Da Cheng or Zhen Jiu Ju Ying.
The theory of the channels summarizes the experience of the Chinese over thousands of years in combating disease. From ancient times, physicians observed numerous symptoms of disease and the results obtained from various methods of treatment. It was discovered, for example, that by stimulating distinct sites on the body's surface, disease in both the superficial tissues and internal Organs could be treated; that pathology in an internal Organ will often manifest itself in certain external or systemic symptoms; and that disease in one Organ will sometimes affect another. Similarly, it was noted that many diseases follow a predictable course of development. In time, these observations became systematized, forming the basis of Chinese medicine.
According to traditional theory, there exists in the body a system of channels or vessels which integrate all the body's separate parts and functions into a unified organism. Among the channels are major trunks and lesser branches which join internally with the vital Organs, and externally with the limbs, sensory organs and orifices. The Chi and Blood circulate throughout the body via this network of channels. Thus, the intimate relationship between the internal Viscera and the periphery of the body is primarily maintained by means of the channels. Channel theory reflects the holistic attitude of Chinese medicine, with great emphasis placed upon the interrelationships among all parts of the organism.
The theory of the channels is interrelated with the theory of the Organs. Traditionally, the internal Organs have never been regarded as independent anatomical entities. Rather, attention has centered upon the functional and pathological interrelationships between the channel network and the Organs. So close is this identification that each of the twelve traditional Primary channels bears the name of one or another of the vital Organs.
In the clinic, the entire framework of diagnostics, therapeutics and point selections is based upon the theoretical framework of the channels. "It is because of the twelve Primary channels that people live, that disease is formed, that people are treated and disease arises". From the beginning, however, we should recognize that, like other aspects of traditional medicine, channel theory reflects the limitations in the level of scientific development at the time of its formation, and is therefore tainted with the philosophical idealism and metaphysics of its day.
The channels form a web which crisscrosses the body vertically and horizontally. They join the internal Organs with the skin, flesh, ligaments, bones and all other tissues, and integrate each part with the whole.
The Chi is variously named according to its functional manifestations. There's Nourishing, Protective, Ancestral and Source Chi. Overall Nourishing and Protective Chi both flow through the channels to all parts of the body. Ancestral qui is the force which pushes the Chi and Blood through the channels, and Source Chi is the basal energy.
The Functions Of The Channels
Because of their close relationship with the tissues and organs of the body, the channels have important physiological and pathological functions. These are summarized below.
According to traditional medicine, the proper functioning of the Organs, muscles, bones, etc., is dependent upon the Chi (a Yang characteristic) and the fluids (a Yin characteristic). Yang Chi thus refers to all varieties of Chi the blood, and Yin fluids to the various nourishing and moistening liquids (Blood, heavy and light fluids). Collectively, these are simply termed Chi and Blood. The Chi is best understood as the energy or force necessary for functional activity, whereas the Blood is the source of moistening, lubrication and nourishment. It is by means of the channels that Chi and Blood spread throughout the body. Only in this manner can each of the body tissues perform its normal activity.
It is by virtue of the complex interweaving network of the channels that the Chi and blood is transported to every part of the body. All the organs, sense organs and tissues are nourished, energized and warmed by the Chi and blood circulating through the channel network. Using the analogy of a plant, the zang-fu may be perceived as the roots of the channels, the channels themselves as the stems, and the different body tissues, and especially the sense organs, as the flowers. Thus the Heart, for example, is said to 'flower' into the tongue.
The various kinds of channels occupy different depths within the body. As well as nourishing and energizing these different layers of the body, the channels serve to prevent the penetration of pathogenetic factors that may attack the body from the outside. Wind, cold, damp, heat, fire and dryness are important causes of disease according to Chinese medicine. When extreme, or when the body resistance is lowered, they can attack the body and easily penetrate to the deeper levels such as the zang-fu and the bones and joints.
When, for a variety of reasons both internal and external, the normal functioning of the body is disrupted, illness ensues. The channels respond to the presence of disease in a predictable fashion. Certain points along the affected channel may become spontaneously tender or sensitive to the touch.
Likewise, when disease besets the body, it may pass to the internal Organs, or from one Organ to another, by means of the channels. An exogenous disease is said to reside first in the pores of the skin from which it enters the Minute Connecting channels, then the larger Connecting channels, the Primary channels and finally, unless it has been successfully treated, the internal Viscera. Each of these stages manifests characteristic symptoms of increasing seriousness, a traditional view which is today still compatible with what we know of the progressive development of some diseases.
Fundamental to all traditional theories of disease is the belief that once a disease agent is present in a certain channel, evidenced by characteristic symptoms, it may be transmitted through the channel to other channels, in addition to being conduits for the supply of nutrients and energy to the body, are also the passageways of disease.
The stimulation of acupuncture points on the body as a means of treating disease is likewise transmitted through the channels by regulating the Chi. That is, the proper circulation of Chi and Blood can be restored by stimulating points along the channels. When an activity of an Organ or channel is disrupted, points along that or related channels are stimulated with needles, heat, pressure, laser, etc. The therapeutic stimulus is transmitted to the troubled area through the channel. This brings the regulatory effect of the Chi into full play by permitting the Chi and Blood to flow smoothly, and by allowing the Nourishing and Protective Chi to cure the disease.